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Frank used it as a breakdown recovery vehicle. He had removed the rear body and replaced it with a lifting crane. The car originally had belonged to Lord Dawson of Penn, a physician to George V. He first stripped the chassis and began hand tooling in dural. The work was done in his third floor flat and had to be taken some distance down the street to where his car was parked in order to be fitted! Ken spent seven months building the new body and servicing the six-cylinder engine under the eight-foot long bonnet. Later in 1954, Ken won first prize for best appearance car among the twenty Ghost club vehicles present at the “Rolls Royce Owners Club”. This was only one trophy of the dozen or more he has gained.

Ken took the 1924 Silver Ghost special with him for the two eventful years on the exchange scheme to America. He drove across the States .to Offutt Air Force Base at Omaha, Nebraska and at a Unique Motor Display held at Ottumwa the car was a ‘Show Stopper’ and voted best show award.

Soon after his arrival at the Offutt Air Base he drove the Rolls to the Automotive Hobby Shop for a wash down to get the road salt off. Immediately he was surrounded by enthusiasts and one said…”Gee, I understand you can start these Rolls Royce’s” on the ignition switch alone! Ken demonstrated it was true, switching on, then retarding the ignition-timing lever. No starting motor was involved. He told them he could also drive off in top gear on ignition switch alone without slipping the clutch.

Ken was just about to demonstrate this but a grey haired old fool, in blue overalls had his head over the radiator closely examining the “Flying Lady” mascot on the radiator. Ken ordered him to stand aside, which he did very obediently, allowing the car to slide forward as if by steam power. A wonderful almost unbelievable trick! Ken later found out that the grey haired man he had ordered out of the way was General Curtis E.Le May, Commander of Strategic Air Command! Ken was but a Squadron Leader at the time. Despite this, Ken got on with him very well and was given a ‘Strategic Air Command badge’, which was immediately stuck on the windscreen! From then on Ken was virtually ordered to attend all the car shows in the mid-West, By order of the General!

Through this he became involved speedboat racing! While in Omaha he took part in the Annual fifty mile Missouri River Marathon Race. He took first place in the Class B competition. In the last race Colonel Ken Wallis was the only ‘flip-over’ causality in his silver X-3 hydroplane. It happened on the north turn on the last lap of the last race. Ken was not injured although his motor blew up as it hit the water with the throttle wide open!

In 1947 during a one evening trial Rally Kenneth fitted an engine to the vintage sailplane “Petrel” A small propeller and mounting were made for the glider. The engine was a tiny 2cylinder 270cc only 10” across the twin horizontally opposed cylinders. This engine originally had been fitted in a bullet-shaped cowling mounted in the air intake of the Jumo 004 jet engine of WW2 and where it served as the starter engine! That evening at Redhill the little engine made ten take-offs on the “Petrel”. However, the “purists” gliding fraternity did not approve of power on gliders at the time. Ken used to sail his four and ahalf ton cutter from Shorham Harbour in those days. If he had not had and engine to get out of the harbour against the tide he would have lost a lot of “pure sailing”

Ken’s Pilot’s licence was revoked in 1993 after he failed stringent new medical

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